Hello students I am Anne Sullivan. I am very pleased and excited to teach you today and look forward to a great class. Before we discuss my work with one of my very famous students, I would first like to give you all a bit of background information on me. I was born on April 14th, 1866 and am the oldest child in my family. My parents immigrated to America from Ireland without much money and education. My father was an alcoholic and my mother unfortunately passed away when I was nine, as she became ill with a case of tuberculoses. When I was seven I had a bacterial infection in my eyes, this caused me to have very little eyesight in my eyes up until I had a corrective surgery at age 15. By the time I was 10 years old I could no longer live with my father and was sent away to live in a boarding home for the poor.
After I got out of the boarding home for the poor, I went to school at the prestigious Perkins School For The Blind, it was hear that I was finally able to have my eyesight corrected. While at this school I was taught to read, while also being taught to use American Sign Language. After learning this skill, I also learned how to use Tactile Sign Language.This form of Sign Language is used by signing signs and letters into a death & blind person's hand.
Now that you know a little about my life, I would like to tell you about one of my students. After graduating from the Perkins School For The Blind I was sent to work as a tutor/teacher for a young death & blind girl, you may have heard of her, her name is Helen Keller. In order prepare myself as a teacher, I studied the works of many other educators such as Dr Howe. At first I tried using strict lessons; although that did not set well with Helen, so it turned out that I used fun lessons and these had a large impact on Helens learning. It is said that because I used a not so typical approach at teaching Helen, she ultimately did very well in a few short months. Due to mine and Helen's many achievements we had a building named after us at Perkins. This was a great honor, even when I did not have the best experiences there when I took Helen there so she could have an even better shot at education. Helen is one of the most influential women in the death/blind world and I am honored to have impacted and played a role in her life!
Thank you so much for allowing me to come speak to you today. Teaching is not always simple and clear cut. Sometimes you will have to create your own way to teach and get through to students like I had to with Helen, but the moment your students achieve even the smallest achievement you know it is all worth it. Once again, thank you so much for having me speak to you in class today!
After reading the second chapter in the textbook you are reading, Educational Psychology by Anita Woolfolk, I realized that I really seem to agree with one of the statements on page 34. It says that when students learn in stimulating environments, they tend to perform better; in fact this textbook even describes a case study using rats to support this theory. When the rats had toys, interaction with humans and rewards for task they would usually perform better. This idea sounds a lot like how I taught Helen Keller. Before working with me she was not given proper attention. But when I worked with her one on one and got past all of her aggressive behaviors she finally seemed to understand. Giving her a doll to encourage her to finger spell, allowing her to touch my face to feel the vibrations of words and simply working with her all the time were ways I used a stimulating environment to get through to her and fortunately it worked!
If you would like to see a visual on how I taught Helen Keller, you can use the following hyperlink to watch of a video of me tutoring her. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gv1uLfF35Uw
Article related to Differentiated Learning techniques: Painter, Diane D. "Providing Differentiated Learning Experiences through Multigenre Projects." (n.d.): 291-92. May 2009. Web. 22 Jan. 2014. http://search.proquest.com.proxy.libraries.uc.edu/docview/211750180
This connects to my work because I believe Differentiated Learning is a great tool to use in the classroom. When I taught Helen, I first started out by using the teaching styles I had read about in textbooks; although I soon realized that that was not useful because all students learn differently. Just because a student is death or blind or death and blind does not meant they will learn the same as another student who is as well. Henceforth, I decided to take Helen's learning into my own hands and teach her based on her needs and how she learned best, not how her peers learned. My favorite part about this article was when the author talks about one child being assessed on a drawing he did of the Civil War, while another student was assessed on his knowledge of the Civil War using his creative writing skills. This is a great representation of Differentiated Learning if you ask me.
Image retrieved on 14 January 2013 from http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/74/Helen_Keller_with_Anne_Sullivan_in_July_1888.jpg
Hello students I am Anne Sullivan. I am very pleased and excited to teach you today and look forward to a great class. Before we discuss my work with one of my very famous students, I would first like to give you all a bit of background information on me. I was born on April 14th, 1866 and am the oldest child in my family. My parents immigrated to America from Ireland without much money and education. My father was an alcoholic and my mother unfortunately passed away when I was nine, as she became ill with a case of tuberculoses. When I was seven I had a bacterial infection in my eyes, this caused me to have very little eyesight in my eyes up until I had a corrective surgery at age 15. By the time I was 10 years old I could no longer live with my father and was sent away to live in a boarding home for the poor.
After I got out of the boarding home for the poor, I went to school at the prestigious Perkins School For The Blind, it was hear that I was finally able to have my eyesight corrected. While at this school I was taught to read, while also being taught to use American Sign Language. After learning this skill, I also learned how to use Tactile Sign Language.This form of Sign Language is used by signing signs and letters into a death & blind person's hand.
Now that you know a little about my life, I would like to tell you about one of my students. After graduating from the Perkins School For The Blind I was sent to work as a tutor/teacher for a young death & blind girl, you may have heard of her, her name is Helen Keller. In order prepare myself as a teacher, I studied the works of many other educators such as Dr Howe. At first I tried using strict lessons; although that did not set well with Helen, so it turned out that I used fun lessons and these had a large impact on Helens learning. It is said that because I used a not so typical approach at teaching Helen, she ultimately did very well in a few short months. Due to mine and Helen's many achievements we had a building named after us at Perkins. This was a great honor, even when I did not have the best experiences there when I took Helen there so she could have an even better shot at education. Helen is one of the most influential women in the death/blind world and I am honored to have impacted and played a role in her life!
Thank you so much for allowing me to come speak to you today. Teaching is not always simple and clear cut. Sometimes you will have to create your own way to teach and get through to students like I had to with Helen, but the moment your students achieve even the smallest achievement you know it is all worth it. Once again, thank you so much for having me speak to you in class today!
After reading the second chapter in the textbook you are reading, Educational Psychology by Anita Woolfolk, I realized that I really seem to agree with one of the statements on page 34. It says that when students learn in stimulating environments, they tend to perform better; in fact this textbook even describes a case study using rats to support this theory. When the rats had toys, interaction with humans and rewards for task they would usually perform better. This idea sounds a lot like how I taught Helen Keller. Before working with me she was not given proper attention. But when I worked with her one on one and got past all of her aggressive behaviors she finally seemed to understand. Giving her a doll to encourage her to finger spell, allowing her to touch my face to feel the vibrations of words and simply working with her all the time were ways I used a stimulating environment to get through to her and fortunately it worked!
Retrieved 17 January 2014: http://lifeprint.com/asl101/fingerspelling/images/abc1280x960.png
Retrieved 17 January 2014: http://www.aph.org/hall/images/keller_sullivan1893.jpg
This is a picture of me using Differentiated Learning by utilizing Tactile Sign Language.
Retrieved 21 January 2014: http://www.afb.org/MyLife/images/14.hk1899.2.jpg
If you would like to see a visual on how I taught Helen Keller, you can use the following hyperlink to watch of a video of me tutoring her.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gv1uLfF35Uw
Article related to Differentiated Learning techniques:
Painter, Diane D. "Providing Differentiated Learning Experiences through Multigenre Projects." (n.d.): 291-92. May 2009. Web. 22 Jan. 2014.
http://search.proquest.com.proxy.libraries.uc.edu/docview/211750180
This connects to my work because I believe Differentiated Learning is a great tool to use in the classroom. When I taught Helen, I first started out by using the teaching styles I had read about in textbooks; although I soon realized that that was not useful because all students learn differently. Just because a student is death or blind or death and blind does not meant they will learn the same as another student who is as well. Henceforth, I decided to take Helen's learning into my own hands and teach her based on her needs and how she learned best, not how her peers learned. My favorite part about this article was when the author talks about one child being assessed on a drawing he did of the Civil War, while another student was assessed on his knowledge of the Civil War using his creative writing skills. This is a great representation of Differentiated Learning if you ask me.
Sources:
http://www.afb.org/asm/asmgallery.asp?FrameID=72
http://www.perkins.org/vision-loss/helen-keller/sullivan.html
http://www.graceproducts.com/keller/anne.html
http://www.nndb.com/people/592/000108268/
Worlde:
<a href="http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/7464632/POOT_" title="Wordle: POOT "><img src="http://www.wordle.net/thumb/wrdl/7464632/POOT_" alt="Wordle: POOT " style="padding:4px;border:1px solid #ddd"></a>
Powerpoint: